Aydin M Arici MD

Research Interests

Endometriosis

Research Summary

Endometriosis is one of the most common benign diseases in reproductive aged women. It still remains one of the most enigmatic disorders in gynecology and in addition to infertility, endometriosis may also cause severe pelvic pain. Although retrograde menstruation is a nearly universal phenomenon, the prevalence of endometriosis suggests that other factors, such as immunologic changes, may determine a woman's susceptibility to endometriosis.

The goal of our work is to understand and identify the factors present in the peritoneal environment that may help explain the development of endometriosis. We have previously shown that the peritoneal environment in women with endometriosis has characteristics of preinflammatory tissue. There is an elevation of monocyte chemotactic protein-1 and interleukin-8 in the peritoneal cavity and these chemoattractant cytokines may play a role in the pathogenesis of endometriosis. The purpose of our work is to identify the role of these chemokines in the disease process and pathophysiology associated with endometriosis.